johnson rare books &amp; archives

THE EVIDENCES AGAINST CHRISTIANITY

Hittell, John S.

New York: Calvin Blanchard, 1857. First Edition. Hardcover. Two volumes. New York: Calvin Blanchard, 1857. Second edition, revised and expanded. Born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, Hittell (1825-1901) graduated from Miami University (Ohio) and practiced law before joining a company of adventureres en route to the gold fields of California. He spent the winter of 1849-50 in the mines of Reading's Diggings, then worked on Cottonwood Creek. After moderate success, he gave up the gold hunt in May 1850 and settled in Sonoma. In 1852, he moved to San Francisco and joined the editorial staff of Alta California, where he remained employed for the following 25 years. He also wrote several important books on California, including Yosemite: Its Wonders and Its Beauties (1868) and A History of the City of San Francisco, and Incidentally of the State of California (1878), as well as this controversial work in which Hittell employs "pantheistic evidence" against the supersitions of Christianity. Though widely condemned, it elicited praise from those associated with Transcendentalism and the Freethought movement. Nevertheless, Hittell later regretted the work and actively worked to suppress it. Presentation copy, inscribed and dated in the year of publication by Hittell to his brother, Theodore H. Hittell, a prominent San Francisco attorney whose History of California (four volumes, 1885-97) is considered the first serious and orderly study of the Golden State, on the front flyleaf in the first volume. Octavo. Original brown cloth bindings, with blind-stamped decorations and gilt titles. Light toning and justa hint of foxing to the contents, with some minor edgewear to the boards; otherwise very good. Very good / Very good. Item #65105